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FIC: Carnival Games

Rating: NC-17Pairing: Harry/DracoSummary: [SEQUEL, not stand-alone]The war is over. Having spent the last year spying for the Order and trying his best to protect his father from Voldemort’s wrath, Draco has come out alive, if alone. When he learned after the Battle that Harry had changed sexes, becoming completely male, he broke up with him promptly and insensitively. Draco didn’t return to Hogwarts for 8th year, and now he’s left wondering what to do with himself. (gender-bending,~36k words)THANK YOU: Again, capitu! Your advice has been as valuable as your enthusiasm, and I sincerely appreciated both. Here’s to you and your fantastic beta’ing/pre-reading/awesome-ing. And! To everyone who has followed this fic, whether for a few weeks or for five years: it’s been such fun, and I’m happy with the way the story has shaped up. Thank you very much for your kind words, interest, and readership. :)

OMG Five years its been (and yet, here you stand as if it were only yesterday.)

I made you another image of my feels because I find words to be not quite enough to capture them. I'm so glad you continued on with this bb. I shall promptly toss aside all that I was doing and read this instant.

OMG Omg omg! ...which is basically what i was doing all throughout the story. The library folk were throwing me some strange looks, but the flailing was necessary!! Necessary! I actually meant to save this sequel for later on tonight, after I had finished my Linguistics paper, and read it as sort of a treat. But I couldn't help myself and started early, and then I just couldn't stop. The dialogue and Draco's commentary were hilarious!! (like in all your stories). "Look at him over there. Eating sausage, all stupid." I really must have looked like a loon, cracking up at my computer screen. But it was all so funny! And touching. I loved Draco's dedication to his father, and how they were working as a team. And the girls helping out and speaking in euphemisms at the end. And Draco and Charlie's standoff in the beginning. And man, you really pulled at my heart. When things were going well, I felt so burstingly happy for them, and then when Harry told Draco to excuse himself, I felt myself resigning too. Like, well that's it. If Draco and I have to give up on Harry and respect his wishes, then that's all there is to it. We'll be okay...somehow. And then I took a 5 minute break to recover. Lol I'm really just blown away by the level of planning that obviously went in to this. You orchestrated it all so seamlessly. (You did that too with The Many Lives of Love, which I never commented on *sorry!* but that was amazing too). Reading Draco's side of things, and what Ron would have done if Hermione had suddenly spouted man-bits, you couldn't help but think well yes, I suppose Harry and I judged Draco too harshly when he left at the end of the last sequel. Of course we should have realized that he would need time to adjust to things. Although he could have gone about it better. But he is Draco...Anyway, I think having Draco fight so adamantly for him, and having everything spill out into the open was just was Harry needed. I'm so amazed and in awe because the plot, the dialogue, the details...it's just so thought out and carefully put together, like a real story. A published story. And that level of writing is just such a gem to come across in fanfiction! This review is completely disorganized and barely coherent, but I thought I should write something now anyways or else I'd put it off and never do it, and then you'd never know how much you made me freak out/fall absolutely in love with this story! ps--is this Monster Fic ™ ? Because if so, I'm SO glad you didn't stop at 10k. <3

What a delightful, detailed comment! You mentioned some of my very favorite parts. The Draco-Charlie standoff -- it made my heart patter to write! I imagined two elk butting antlers, haha. And the "stupid sausage eating" part, it was originally so much more rambling, and I had to reel Draco (read: myself) in.

Thank you for the kind compliments, especially the "published story" bit. *flush* Am working on a manuscript for publishing now, and it helps my lagging confidence to hear such things. <3

Lol! You remembered Monster FicTM. While this was another fic that ended up double the length I projected, Monster Fic is a different fic that will probably end up in H/D Erised, if I don't scrap it and write another, which I'm prone to do, too. :o)

Thanks so much again!! And for the Many Lives of Love compliment, too.

I just got the chance to read this recently and to be completely frank, I did not have the coherency to write you a worthy review...

I am... without words, they're all coming out wrong because my dear, this was the most perfect conclusion I could have ever dreamed of for this story that stole my heart many years ago.

I can't even begin to express my worshipful gratitude at how UTTERLY perfect and wonderful this was to read, it FAR FAR FAAAAAAAR exceeded any sort of expectations, in fact, it blew my mind to smithereens.

No... please forget all the above... I can't ever honestly express how deeply I adored this concluding piece, NOT EVER. And Draco, oh! Draco, I knew you never changed you scheming perfect bastard!

I will have to return with my thoughts and mind composed to give you a proper, less epileptic response.

Oh, I am so happy to hear you say all those things! Especially since you enjoyed the first story long ago! I am pleased the follow-ups seemed to...connect, you know? And Draco! I dearly wanted him to become, er, romantic towards Harry and change his heart a bit without losing that manipulative Draco edge. I am so pleased you enjoyed -- truly. Thank you! :)

I absolutely loved this series! You have quickly become one of my favorite authors. Your fics are well written and captivating. You did a fantastic job of bringing life to the characters and showcasing the emotions both of them went through over the course of the series.

The one thing that I really liked is how you kept Draco in character. It was very realistic that he wasn't totally accepting of Harry's change to male right away. That he struggled with the change in sexuality was totally believable. I was very thankful that he was able to reconcile the conflicts he felt and just let him feelings guide him.

I love this series - I just can't find the right words to describe my feelings now. Just so you know I squeaked and giggled and felt warm and sad all at the same time reading it. So many feelings you have presented to us. They were just like two horny teenagers drown to each other driven by lust and wants in ABA, but when Bearded Lady is up, the darker side of this story revealed and everyone had to struggle to live, to fight their ways out of this mess. And you link them perfectly by presenting us an emotional journey of Draco/Harry to accept who they are and what they want. I'm really happy I read the very first fic in this series years back then and have finished the perfect ending of it today. Thank you so much!! :D